Harry Potter and the Guardians of Time
by MichiRini
Summary: Creative title, huh? Cross between JK Rowling's Harry Potter series and Marianne Curley's Guardians of Time trilogy. Ethan, Isabel, and Rochelle travel to Harry, Ron, and Hermione's 7th year to protect Harry from Lathenia.
1. We have books?

_Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Guardians of Time. Those belong to my most favorite authors: JK Rowling and Marianne Curley. _

_Background information: This takes place in Harry, Ron, and Hermione's seventh year at Hogwarts, but only after the first book of the Guardians of Time trilogy. Rochelle has already finished her debriefing and is a full-fledged and fully trusted member of the Guard. _

_Anyone who has not read Guardians of Time must do so because it p\/\/0n5 Harry Potter. _

"I still can't believe you went that whole year using a Time-Turner to get to all your classes!" 17-year-old Harry Potter remembered, walking back to the Gryffindor common room with his friends Ron and Hermione.

"The only difficult part was all the homework," defended Hermione.

"Yeah, that's why you were always so tired," Ron commented sarcastically. "Personally, I would hate having to constantly go back in time."

At that precise moment, three people seemed to fall from the ceiling, landing neatly on their feet in front of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Among the three newcomers there were two girls—one with blonde hair and brown eyes, the other with black hair and green eyes—and one boy with brown hair and blue eyes.

For a moment the two groups just stared at each other. Then the blonde girl turned to her male friend and tugged on his arm, exclaiming, "Ethan, he's real! Harry Potter is _real!_"

"Calm down, Isabel," the black-haired girl said to the blonde, rubbing her temples. "You're giving me a headache."

"Besides," Ron added unsteadily, "everyone knows Harry's real. He's 'The Chosen One,' isn't he?"

"Ron, there's something wrong with this picture!"

"Like what?" Ron asked Hermione, bracing himself for a long and complicated list of every suspicious aspect of these people, even though they were wearing Gryffindor uniforms and looked to be about their age.

"Like how, even though they look our age and their uniforms indicate that they are Gryffindors, we have no clue who they are? Or like how it is IMPOSSIBLE TO APPARATE INSIDE HOGWARTS!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned back to the three newcomers, different thoughts running through their heads. Harry suspected the three to be Death Eaters; Hermione wanted to know how they got into the school if they didn't Apparate; and Ron was trying to decide which girl was more attractive.

The other three people seemed struck dumb for a moment, until the boy asked Harry, Hermione, and Ron if he could speak with his two friends for a moment. Without waiting for an answer, the boy turned and gathered his friends around him, the three of them just barely speaking above whispers.

Ron offered Harry one of Fred and George's Extendable Ears, which Harry took. "_Wingardium leviosa!_" Harry muttered, giving his wand a swish and flick to send the Ear floating gently to the edge of the strangers' circle. Now he and Ron and Hermione were able to hear the conversation perfectly:

"Has this ever happened to you, Ethan?" the blonde girl asked. When the boy called Ethan shook his head, the blonde continued. "What should we do? Should we call Arkarian and go back?"

"No," the black-haired girl answered quickly. "We're here to protect Barry Smotter—."

"_Harry Potter!_" the blonde girl and Ethan corrected quickly. The blonde girl added, "You really should have read the books before coming on this mission."

"Whatever. All I know is that we were sent on this mission to protect that guy from Lathenia, and we have to do it. I know this isn't as far into the past as we're used to being sent, but failing this mission could still be disastrous."

"But it's only 1996!" the blonde said.

"But if Harry dies," Ethan considered, "he'll never defeat Voldemort, and even though Voldemort is a wizard he'll eventually move on to taking over our world as well. We have to help Harry Potter stop Voldemort before he becomes as powerful as Lathenia. We're staying, even if we have to tell them everything. Rochelle," Ethan said, turning to the black-haired girl. "What are you picking up from them?"

The girl Rochelle smirked slightly. "They're best friends, all right: I'm getting completely different thoughts from each of them. That kid with the black hair and the scar—."

"_Harry Potter!_"

"Yeah, him. He thinks we eat dead people—."

"You mean he thinks we're Death Eaters?" the blonde asked. When Rochelle nodded, the blonde explained, "That means that he thinks we work for Voldemort."

"Then we're going to have to explain everything about us to him, because he's got serious issues with Death Eaters. Anyway, the girl—."

"_Hermione Granger!_ Didn't the knowledge dust teach you anything?"

"Shut up, Isabel. _Hermione_ wants to know how we got in here if we didn't Apparate. She's itching to go to the library and read _Hogwarts, a History_ to find out if there is any other way to randomly appear in the castle. And the red-head—."

"_Ron Weasley!_"

"I give up. You don't want to know what he's thinking about us girls, anyway." Rochelle's words cause a slight moment of silence.

The girl Isabel says in a small voice, "Well, in the sixth book, yeah he was a bit flirty…"

"_Flirty!_" Ethan asked. "Ron was trying to get the attention of every girl he met in Half-Blood Prince! Not to mention all the 'snogging' he did."

"You do realize that one of _us_," Rochelle pointed from herself to Isabel and back again, "is going to have to—."

"Yes, I realize that."

"Can't I finish a stupid sentence? I was trying to tell you guys something important!" Now Rochelle had the attention of both her friends. "They're listening to us."

Ethan, Isabel, and Rochelle turned to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione looking at them with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. "You're Ethan, Isabel, and Rochelle!" Hermione suddenly exclaimed. "Oh, I read your books before I came to Hogwarts! They're my favorite books!"

Ethan, Isabel, and Rochelle all looked visibly surprised. Then Rochelle turned to Ethan and asked curiously, "We have a book?"

"A trilogy!" Hermione exclaimed. "Guardians of Time! The first book, The Named, was my favorite." Then Hermione turned suspiciously, looking at Rochelle. "But you're still alive…"

Rochelle gave a bark of laughter. "Yes, I'm actually very happy about that."

Hermione shook her head. "But then if you're still alive… what book are you from and who summoned you out of your book?"

The three Guardians stood staring blankly at the girl they had always read to be intelligent, now thinking that maybe JK Rowling had confused the definitions of "intelligent" and "completely insane."

"We haven't been summoned out of a book…" Ethan said slowly, looking at the equally confused Harry and Ron. "We've been sent to protect Harry from Lathenia—the ultimate evil."

"No!" Harry exclaimed. "Voldemort is the ultimate evil. He's trying to take over our whole world, using any means necessary! He's even got the giants and werewolves working for him, and he's using the Unforgivable Curses!"

Ethan, Rochelle, and Isabel all scoffed at this. Ethan replied to Harry: "Come on. Voldemort's a mortal wizard, so he needs a wand and verbal incantations to work his magic. Lathenia is the _Goddess of Chaos_; she's an Immortal and she doesn't need to brandish a stick every time she goes about killing people. And whereas Voldemort is messing things up for you in your present, Lathenia is messing with our pasts. She can make it so that any one of us was never born in the first place."

Harry's eyes widened. "Are you trying to tell me," he began asking Ethan slowly, "that there is someone out there worse than Lord Voldemort? The man who murdered my parents and tried to kill me? The man who has murdered countless others? The man who has torn his own soul into seven pieces and scattered them to prolong his life?"

Ethan walked forward to look Harry in the eye. "Yes. I am talking about the woman who sent someone to kill my sister. The woman who sent someone to try to kill my father. The woman who has tried many times to kill me. The woman who killed Isabel—granted me and Arkarian _did_ bring her back—. The woman who has killed countless others. The woman who would gladly kill her own brother if it would mean gaining power. We're here to protect you from this woman." Ethan turned to Hermione. "We were dropped here by Arkarian to make sure Lathenia doesn't do anything to prevent Harry from fulfilling his destiny in the prophecy—."

"How do you know about the prophecy?" Ron asked incredulously, taking his eyes off Rochelle for the first time since the Extendable Ear had first been put to use.

"We've—or, rather, Isabel and I—have read your books."

"_We have BOOKS!_"

"It's one of the best-selling series in the world. Nearly every… Muggle… has read your books. I don't know a single person who does not like the Harry Potter series."

"Mate," Ron said to Harry, stunned, "you're even famous with the Muggles!"

"You will be," Isabel corrected. "The first book won't be published for a few more years. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Or, in America, they'll call it Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

"The Philosopher's Stone!" Harry exclaimed. "I saved that from Voldemort in my first year!"

"There will be one book for every year you spend at Hogwarts. Or for every year you spend at Hogwarts and the year after you come of age as a wizard; we don't really know yet because the last book hasn't been published yet." Isabel spoke with an excited tone in her voice. "I still can't believe I'm _meeting_ Harry Potter!"

"I can't believe _I'm_ meeting Ethan Roberts!" Hermione said in the same tone Isabel had used. "You are so… I don't know! AWESOME! I _love_ your character in the books! Could we talk about them together sometime?"

"Sure, but not right now," Ethan said, getting down to business. "While we're here, I need to tell you what is going to have to happen. You know who we are now. Or, Hermione does. Ron, Harry: I'm Ethan. This is Isabel, and that's Rochelle. Rochelle reads minds and has an analytical sense of touch; Isabel's a healer and has psychic abilities; and I can move objects at will and create illusions and have an amazing instinct."

"Well that was blunt," Rochelle commented. "'Hi, I'm Ethan, and I have an amazing instinct!'"

"Just wait 'till I get going," Ethan said to the girl with a smile. "Also: we're here to protect you, but we're not as dense as the Ministry of Magic is. In other words, we're not going to advertise our presence. No one else is going to know who we are or why we're here. We're going to pretend to be your boyfriend and girlfriends—."

"_What!_" Harry, Ron, and Hermione asked at the same time.

"I am going to pretend to be Hermione's boyfriend—yes, Ron, that's what I said and there's no point in pretending you're not upset with that—and Rochelle is going to pretend to date Ron—Rochelle, don't make that face—and Isabel is going to pretend to be Harry's girlfriend—Harry, if it would make you feel better we'll explain who we are to Ginny."

"Wait a minute!" Ron exclaimed. "You can't just go on assigning us dates!"

"Would you rather Lathenia just come and kill off your best mate?"

"No!"

"Then shut up and shod off. And take Rochelle with you."

Scowling, Rochelle took Ron's hand. "If I catch even one _thought_ about me or my body coming out of your head, I am going to throw you off of the Astronomy tower."

"Harry, you'll have fun with Isabel. She'll do anything if you make her feel like you're challenging her abilities."

"Hey!"

"Just go with Harry, Isabel. We've got a job to do."

"And that leaves you with me!" Hermione said excitedly. "Come on; I'll show you where Gryffindor Tower is!"


	2. Boil Cure Potion

The next morning at breakfast, Harry, Ron, and Hermione introduced Ethan, Isabel, and Rochelle to all of Gryffindor house. All of the students were curious about their new classmates and immediately bombarded the new trio with questions.

"So where did you come from?" Neville Longbottom asked Ethan, taking him for the leader of the group.

But it was Isabel who answered: "We used to go to Durmstrang," she answered lightly, buttering a roll. "We came to see the Triwizard Tournament a few years ago, where I met Harry." Isabel gave the uncomfortable-looking boy sitting to her right a glowing smile.

"That's also where I met Hermione," Ethan said proudly, taking Hermione's hand from across the table. Hermione blushed but smiled happily.

"And that's where I met—," Rochelle stopped and glared at Ron. Before anyone knew what was happening, Rochelle had whipped her hand across the table to slap the poor red-head seated there. "Don't you EVER think that about me AGAIN!" she shouted at Ron, rising from her seat.

The Great Hall fell silent, and the students at all four tables turned to watch the show, thinking someone had received a Howler in their mail; even the teachers, including the new headmistress, Professor McGonagall, were watching what was happening at the Gryffindor table.

Ethan broke the silence with a hearty laugh, and soon Isabel followed his lead. Taking the hint, Harry and Hermione also started laughing, but Ron, rubbing his now-red cheek, simply muttered, "I don't see what's so funny…"

"Rochelle," Ethan chastised, "you can't use Legilimency every time you want to know what your boyfriend is thinking!"

The Great Hall returned to its normal volume, but Professor McGonagall's eyes never left the three intruders in her school. Rochelle lowered herself back into her seat, and the headmistress finally turned away to continue her conversation with the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"So, Hermione," a very interested Lavender Brown asked, propping her head on one fist, "what happened between you and Victor Krum, then?"

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, looking to Ethan in alarm.

Ethan smiled confidently. "Are the same rumors that haunted me at Durmstrang spread here at Hogwarts, as well?" he asked a stunned Lavender. He sighed as if he was disappointed and explained lightly, "Krum had a crush on Hermione and asked her out to the Yule Ball before I got to her. He took the date too seriously and _thought_ there was something going on between them, so Hermione was taken into the lake for him to rescue." Ethan squeezed Hermione's hand and smiled at her.

"Ron…" Rochelle muttered warningly.

"Yes ma'am!" Ron answered in alarm, looking quickly from Rochelle to his untouched plate of scrambled eggs.

"And you're all in Gryffindor House?" Dean Thomas asked, amazed. "That's lucky; you're all together, with your old friends and your new boyfriends and girlfriend!"

"Excuse me." Isabel turned to see Professor McGonagall standing directly behind her, lips pursed angrily. "I would like to see you and your two friends in my office at once."

Immediately, Ethan, Isabel, and Rochelle stood and bid good-bye to their friends. Ethan made a show of not wanting to let go of Hermione's hand, but eventually let go when Ron came and wrenched their hands apart with an annoyed expression on his face. Rochelle gave Ron an over-exaggeratedly blown kiss good-bye, which Ron did not return. Isabel ruffled Harry's hair in farewell before following Professor McGonagall out the Great Hall.

The trio followed McGonagall to a stone gargoyle, outside of which the professor said "White." The gargoyle promptly sprang to life and jumped out of the way, the wall opening to reveal a moving staircase.

"But in the—," Isabel began saying before Ethan "accidentally" stomped down on her foot. Rochelle shook her head disappointedly at her friends and followed Professor McGonagall up the stairs.

Once they were in McGonagall's office, the teacher turned around with a livid expression on her face. "I want to know," she said angrily, her lips completely disappeared with the pressure she was exerting on them, "who you are and what you are doing in my school uninvited."

The three Guardians of Time stood still, feigning innocence. Ethan stepped forward, being the Guard with the most experience out of all of them, and said, confused, "Professor, I am Ethan Roberts. This is Isabel Becket, and that is Rochelle Thallimar. We're here to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

"I don't recall seeing any of your names on our attendance records for this year," McGonagall countered, furious.

Ethan's look of confusion deepened. "I know my mother sent you and owl with all of our transfer papers…" Then Ethan's eyes widened in fear. "Oh no!" he shouted. "The letter must have been intercepted! It's been happening to us a lot lately; friends and family will have supposedly sent us a letter but we won't have received it, or we will have sent something that they hadn't received. And every time Dartemis—my family's owl—returns, he always seems to have a new injury!" Ethan gulped. "Do you think You-Know-Who could be having my family watched, Professor?"

Professor McGonagall was shocked; this was not the interview she had envisioned. She had thought she was about to discover three Death Eaters attempting to infiltrate her school using Polyjuice Potion to impersonate three students, or maybe just three students whose parents had sent them to Hogwarts without notifying her, hoping to keep their children safer in the protection of the most prestigious magical school in all of Britain. But no; these children needed help, if there mail was being intercepted by You-Know-Who. She would have to inform the Order of their predicament as soon as possible.

"What are your parents' names?" she asked the students, sitting down behind her desk. McGonagall took three sheets of parchment from the top drawer of her desk and began dabbing her quill into a bottle of emerald green ink. "I'll need to write them, to confirm your attendance here and to assure them that they will have protection if You-Know-Who is watching them."

"My father's name is Shaun Roberts," Ethan replied immediately. "He got a job helping Madame Rosmerta at the Three Broomsticks, so he could be closer to me. And he felt sorry for her, you know, being Imperiused like that… Anyway, my mum's dead so there's no point in writing to her, is there?" Ethan told that last lie without a flicker of hesitation; the knowledge dust that had been dumped on him before departing for Hogwarts had included that last bit in his alias's personal history.

Isabel came forward, offering the names of her parent: "My dad's name is Arkarian, but my mum was a Muggle; she left my dad shortly after I was born, when he told her he was a wizard." Isabel smiled and added, "He's also a metamorphmagus, and he likes to look like he's eighteen. He even gives himself long blue hair and violet eyes!"

"Not so unusual," McGonagall commented off-handedly. "One of my good friends is a metamorphmagus, and she keeps her hair short, spiky, and bubble-gum pink."

Rochelle stepped forward and said quickly, "Dad's name is Jimmy; he works for Fred and George Weasley down at the Hogsmeade branch of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. He's never told me anything about my mum though…"

"Don't any of you have a mother?" McGonagall cried. She felt ashamed as soon as the words left her mouth; the three students in front of her immediately began shuffling their feet uncomfortably; Ethan's mother must have passed away only a little while ago, because a tear slid down his face. McGonagall apologized while she addressed the letters. She summoned three owls from the Hogwarts owlry and sent the letters on their way. Only a short while later, the responses arrived. Each of the fathers said that they had sent their child's transfer papers with the Roberts family owl named Dartemis, and also listed the classes that each of their children had been scheduled for.

McGonagall sighed and ran her wand down the lists of classes each parent had provided, and on her desk appeared three completed class schedules; one for each Ethan Kenrich Roberts, Isabel Althea Becket, and Rochelle Desdemona Thallimar. She handed the schedules to the appropriate student and sent them on their way, but still determined to keep her eyes on them in the future.

Once outside Professor McGonagall's office, the three newly enrolled Hogwarts students let out a sigh of relief and looked over their schedules:

ETHAN KENRICH ROBERTS

First Period: N.E.W.T. Potions

Second Period: N.E.W.T. Transfiguration

Third Period: N.E.W.T. Ancient Runes

Fourth Period: free period

LUNCH

Fifth Period: N.E.W.T. Defense Against the Dark Arts

Sixth Period: N.E.W.T. Charms

Seventh Period: free period

Eighth Period: N.E.W.T. Muggle Studies

DINNER

ISABEL ALTHEA BECKET

First Period: N.E.W.T. Potions

Second Period: N.E.W.T. Transfiguration

Third Period: N.E.W.T. Herbology

Fourth Period: free period

LUNCH

Fifth Period: N.E.W.T. Defense Against the Dark Arts

Sixth Period: N.E.W.T. Charms

Seventh Period: free period

Eighth Period: N.E.W.T. Divination

DINNER

ROCHELLE DESDEMONA THALLIMAR

First Period: N.E.W.T. Potions

Second Period: N.E.W.T. Transfiguration

Third Period: N.E.W.T. Herbology

Fourth Period: free period

LUNCH

Fifth Period: N.E.W.T. Defense Against the Dark Arts

Sixth Period: N.E.W.T. Charms

Seventh Period: free period

Eighth Period: N.E.W.T. Muggle Studies

DINNER

"Looks like I'm all set to be an Auror!" Ethan chuckled. "Go figure."

"'Go figure' for _you_, look what _I've_ got!" Isabel exclaimed. "I've got all the classes required for a career as a Healer!" All three students laughed.

"What do you reckon my classes are leading me towards a career in?" Rochelle asked curiously.

Isabel grabbed at the schedule and looked it over for half a second before announcing, "It looks like you're destined for a position in the Ministry's Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes!"

The three friends laughed over their class schedules while Isabel led them to their first period classes: N.E.W.T. Potions.

The trio arrived shortly after the other Gryffindors and Slytherins had gathered, but not before the gong could hail them as being late to class. After a quick explanation to Professor Slughorn about why they didn't have all of the appropriate Potions supplies, the teacher pointed them in the direction of the teacher's stores, directing them to take a book, cauldron, and basic supplies. After gathering all of the necessary supplies, Ethan set his cauldron up next to Hermione; Isabel hurried to get a spot next to Harry; Rochelle reluctantly went over to Ron and banged her cauldron down on the counter.

"This year," Professor Slughorn began, "you shall not only be making more complicated potions, potions that take longer than a class period to brew; you shall also be learning how to identify the various ingredients of each potion. This is meant to teach you how to identify unknown potions based on the ingredients they are comprised of."

Professor Slughorn went over the class assignment: after the teacher distributed each student a sample of Boil Cure Potion, each student was to go about listing the various ingredients included in the potion. Although the rest of the class looked at the teacher with expressions of horror on their faces, Rochelle laughed slightly.

Professor Slughorn handed out the vials of the potion. To everyone's shock, Rochelle uncorked the vial the minute it was in her hand and poured a small amount of it onto the palm of her hand. Immediately she turned to Professor Slughorn and smiled brilliantly, listing confidently: "Dried nettles, crushed snake fangs, stewed horn slugs, and porcupine quills."

Every person in the class held their breath; Hermione stopped flipping through pages of her copy of _Advanced Potion-Making_ to stare at Rochelle.

"That is… correct!" Professor Slughorn said, shocked. Then, turning to Harry, he warned, "Be careful of this one, Potter! It seems as if she is trying to steal your place as the best potion-maker at Hogwarts!"

Harry shrugged; he really didn't care who was better at him in Potions, never really having liked the class in the first place. That was Hermione's area, and she really did look stunned that someone had actually done better than her without the help of a textbook filled with shortcuts and cheats.

Slughorn produced another potion for them to identify the contents of: the Befuddlement Draught. Once again, Rochelle managed to decipher the ingredients (sneezewort, scurvy-grass, and lovage) simply by pouring a small sample of the potion into her hand. When she managed to do it a third time with the Wit-Sharpening Potion, (ground scarab beetle, cut-up ginger root, and armadillo bile) Ethan nudged her softly and whispered that she should back off or risk revealing who they are. Rochelle gave him a slightly disappointed look; she was enjoying the exploitation of her power.

Ethan, under the pretense of going back to the teacher's cupboard for a better copy of _Advanced Potion-Making_, slipped Harry a note. Harry unfolded the note, carefully keeping it out of sight of the overlarge Professor Slughorn, and read: _So when are Quidditch try-outs?_


	3. Animated broomstick

"Remind me again how _you_—a Muggle—are going to play Quidditch," Harry demanded, disbelieving. "Magical brooms won't fly without a witch or wizard directing it."

"Do I really have to show you again?" Ethan complained. When Harry didn't answer him, Ethan stopped. He laid his broom, a Nimbus 2000, across the palms of his hands. With only a thought, Ethan willed the broom to rise slowly. Harry watched Ethan move the broom through the air, spinning, spiraling, and finally dive-bombing Harry, stopping less than a centimeter from the Chosen One's face.

"Nice show," Harry commented, smiling. "But you still haven't proved you can ride it!" Harry mounted the Firebolt he'd been carrying over his shoulder and took off, hovering just about Ethan's head.

"Quit showing off!" Ethan yanked hard on Harry's leg, causing boy and broom to come crashing into the ground. "You and I will both see if I can ride that flying stick in a few minutes."

"Hey!" Harry exclaimed, his expression one of mock indignation. "I rode a Nimbus 2000 for three years, you know. Don't diss the Nimbus."

The two boys continued walking to the Quidditch pitch; Ron had gone on alone, looking slightly green in the face. Harry had explained that Ron was just suffering from nerves, but Ethan knew this already, having read all of the Harry Potter books. What's more, Ethan understood Ron's nervousness; his own stomach felt as if it was deciding whether or not breakfast was really worth keeping down.

While they walked, the boys discussed their teachers and classes. Ethan had been put into the same classes as Harry and Ron, except that they had an extra free period while Ethan was taking Muggle Studies.

"Can you believe the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is a squib?" Harry asked, laughing. "Although he really did pick on you a lot, Ethan. Professor Carter is just as bad to you as Snape used to be to me!"

"Yeah," Ethan agreed. "Carter and I go way back."

Harry stopped walking right before they could enter the pitch, looking strangely at Ethan. "How many of you are protecting me?" he asked Ethan uncertainly.

"All of the Named—the most elite soldiers in the Guard—are here," Ethan whispered, not wanting to be heard by anyone. "Well, not _everyone_," he amended. "We haven't found all nine of the Named mentioned in the Prophecy—our prophecy, not yours. There's me, Isabel, and Rochelle… Matt's even here, too; he's that new kid in Ravenclaw… Jimmy's working for Fred and George at their Hogsmeade branch of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes… Shaun—my dad—is 'helping Madame Rosmerta' at the Three Broomsticks… Carter's our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher… and Arkarian's taken Stan Shunpike's place on the Knight Bus, so we can make a quick escape if we really need to."

Before Harry could ask any more questions, Ethan entered the Quidditch pitch. Harry followed him but then took a step back; the pitch was _filled_ with people! It was almost as if there was an actual game today… Harry racked his mind, trying to figure out if he'd confused "try-outs" with "first game of the season"… no, there was no way he could have made _that_ mistake!

Harry shook his head, remembering the Quidditch try-outs from last year. Determined not to shout himself hoarse this time, Harry took his own wand and, aiming it at his throat, muttered, "Sonorus!" When he next opened his mouth to speak, his voice was magnified so that everyone in the stadium could hear him; next to him, Ethan bent over double trying to cover his ears. "These are the try-outs for the Gryffindor Quidditch team!" Harry said authoritatively. "If you are a first-year or in a house other than Gryffindor, please leave _now!_" A couple of people left the stands, but not many. "_NOW!_" Harry demanded, his magnified voice probably carrying all the way back to the castle. Almost everyone left, except for a handful of people. "That's more like it," Harry said, and then remembered that his voice was still magnified. "Quietus."

The remaining participants for the try-outs gathered around Harry, who directed them to get into groups: the Keepers sat in the Ravenclaw stands, Beaters in Hufflepuff seats, and Chasers in the Gryffindor stands; no one wanted to sit in the Slytherin seats for fear of jinxing their chances of making it onto the Gryffindor team. Harry had to send some hopeful Seekers back to the common room; there was no way he was going to give up his post, especially since this was his last year at Hogwarts.

_I'm the last member of my original team left,_ Harry realized, motioning for the Chasers to take the field. Harry told them to fly into a circle shape; grabbing the Quaffle, Harry flew up to join them. He passed the Quaffle to the Chaser candidate on his immediate right—and was surprised to see Ethan up in the air, looking as if he was born on the broom he was flying. _No,_ Harry thought. _That's not right. He's not flying the broom; he's animating it._

"I want you to pass the Quaffle to each other until I tell you to stop," Harry instructed. "Pass to anyone but the person directly across from you, and try not to make a pattern out of it. Remember: these are try-outs. You're here because you want to be on the team. Don't just toss the Quaffle back and forth; make it challenging for everyone."

The Chasers passed the Quaffle to each other rather aggressively for the next fifteen minutes. Harry noticed that the one player who seemed to catch the ball with the least amount of effort—and every time, too—was Ethan. Sometimes Harry would swear the ball would curve to fly straight towards Ethan. Even Ginny, brilliant as she was when it came to Quidditch, couldn't catch the Quaffle as skillfully as Ethan could. Ethan could also throw the Quaffle at anyone, with accuracy and force.

Harry chose his three Chasers: Ginny, Ethan, and Dean Thomas, who had done well when he had temporarily replaced Katie Bell last year. Harry sent the Chasers who hadn't qualified back to the common room and asked his new teammates to stay on the field for Keeper try-outs.

The Keepers were amazingly pathetic. Harry knew that this year there would be no need for Hermione to confund anyone for Ron this year; these were all the same people who had tried out for the Keeper position last year. There were no hopeful second-years. The only Keeper who had any talent at all was Ron, who managed to block every shot that even Ethan sent out at him. _Then again,_ Harry thought, _it was mostly Ethan's shots that the other Keepers had trouble with…_ Harry just shrugged, telling himself half-heartedly that it was just Ron's superior skill at Quidditch that made him save every shot. Ron returned to the team as well, turning to fly back to the stands to sit with Ginny, Ethan, and Dean.

It was then that Harry realized that he had just put together the beginning of one of the worst teams in history. Sure, each one of those people was the best at what they could do, but it was something else that put this team's chances of success in jeopardy:

Ron and Ethan were on the team. Ethan was supposedly dating Hermione, making a show out of it by holding her hand, sitting with her at every opportunity, and always looking at her. He was the stereotype of any girl's dream boyfriend. On the other hand, Harry knew that Ron had a problem with the whole Ethan-Hermione thing; Ron had a crush on Hermione. It wasn't a big secret; pretty much the whole school knew that Ron _liked_ Hermione despite his "new girlfriend." Harry hoped that Ron would be able to bear having Ethan on the team.

The other major flaw in the team was the combination of Ginny, Dean, and Harry himself. Ginny and Dean used to be dating, but their relationship had ended on bad terms. Harry didn't know if Dean was still mad at Ginny for dumping him, or mad at Harry for going after Ginny soon after Ginny and Dean had broken up. And it was very awkward for Harry to be with Ginny because they both still had feelings for each other, still wanted to be in a relationship together. And Harry had no idea how Ginny was going to take the news of Harry's "new girlfriend." One thing was for sure: Harry couldn't let Ginny near Isabel if Ginny had a wand handy.

Shaking his head at his own stupidity, Harry gestured for the Beaters to come forward. Harry set up targets—little cardboard figures that looked remarkably like Malfoy in his Slytherin Quidditch robes—and released one of the bludgers, telling the first contestant to go and take a whack at the first target.

The first Malfoy got away without a scratch. The second Malfoy got blasted to shreds; Harry immediately put the second-year who had knocked it out onto the team. Malfoy's numbers 3, 4, and 5 got little bits knocked off of them. The sixth Malfoy escaped harm. The seventh Malfoy didn't get hit by the bludger, but the Beater, in a fit of disappointment, sent a Diffindo charm to blast it to shreds. This brilliant idea delighted Harry so much that he decided to use the Diffindo charm to blast the smithereens out of the Malfoy's that had managed to survive their brushes with the bludger. This left only three Malfoy's left, only one of which was destroyed by a bludger. The fourth-year who hit it was immediately enlisted.

Harry looked at his new team, feeling slightly apprehensive. He had no worries about his two beaters; the second-year boy, Carlin Batidor, and the fourth-year girl, Iolana Eleva, had earned their positions on the team. It was the rest of the team that had him worried.

_As long as the ones I'm worried about aren't the ones wielding bludger-whacking clubs_, Harry thought to himself, _I think I'll be okay. I hope so anyway…_

Harry trained the new team for a bit, just to see how everyone worked together. Besides the fact that Dean seemed determined to never pass the Quaffle to Ginny, and Ginny's tendency to "accidentally" run into Harry—had she heard about Isabel _already?_—and Ron's sudden resolve to block as many of Ethan's shots as possible—which wasn't many—Harry thought the team fit well.

_Who am I kidding?_ Harry thought. _This whole Guardians of Time thing is messing up my last year at Hogwarts!_


	4. Muggle Fighting

"Mr. Roberts! This is not a first-year Charms class!" Professor Carter yelled at Ethan, who was brandishing a smooth, wand-like rod at his spinning quill. "Put your wand away or I will be forced to take points away from Gryffindor!"

Ethan smiled innocently at his teacher from the back of the room. He animated the quill a moment longer but then lowered his "wand" and willed the quill to stop moving.

For a moment Carter just glared at Ethan, his eyes nothing but slits. "I demand that you pay me the respect that you would give to any of your other teachers," the teacher insisted angrily. "I know more about the Dark Arts than any of you could ever imagine…"

Out of the corner of his eyes, Ethan saw Harry's face arrange into a doubtful expression. When Ethan saw Harry open his mouth to argue with the teacher, Ethan threw his arms back in a yawn, making sure to hit Hermione's large stack of books hard enough to send them sliding past the girl and into Harry's lap. One of the books nearly went flying into Harry's face, but Harry managed to catch the newly purchased copy of _Hogwarts, a History_ at the last second.

Ethan brought his arms back to his sides, looking as if he had just made a horrible mistake. He bent down to pick up the textbooks, apologizing sincerely to Hermione. Putting his hand on the side of Harry's chair as if for leverage, Ethan left a folded piece of parchment for Harry to read. Once the class had returned to its normal state of calm, Harry opened the letter and read Ethan's explanation that Carter knew everything about the Dark Arts through the use of knowledge dust provided in the Citadel, the place where they are given identities for their missions. The note explained that they usually receive new bodies and new names with their doses of knowledge dust.

Harry scribbled a response onto the parchment and passed the note back to Ethan as soon as Carter's back was turned. Ethan opened the note and pretended to scribble on it as if taking notes. Harry had written, _So are these your real bodies? _

Ethan passed scribbled an affirmative answer and passed the parchment back to Ethan, hiding it inside of his textbook and giving it to Hermione to pass to Harry, who was sitting on her other side. Harry read the note and sent it back with another message: _Why didn't you get different bodies for this mission? From what Hermione's told me and Ron about how you guys work—which is a lot, mind you—isn't it dangerous for you to go without aliases?_

Ethan smiled slightly, wondering why Hermione hadn't asked that question already. Deciding that she must have already figured it out for herself, Ethan wrote back to Harry: _It would be pointless to hide our identities from witches and wizards. A simple incantation would make our disguises disappear, and it would look very suspicious for us to have disguises in a time when Voldemort has just returned to full power. As for maintaining our true names, Isabel and I have read all of the Harry Potter books that have been published, and according to those books there is a truth potion called Veritaserum that makes the drinker tell the truth no matter what. So if we had been given new identities and then been made to drink this truth potion, we would immediately give ourselves away anyway, only it would look very suspicious for us to have been hiding our true names. Do you get it? Any more questions?_

Ethan passed the parchment back to Harry, this time animating it to slide across the tabletop, stopping just in front of the Chosen One. Harry read the note and nodded slightly before dabbing his quill into his ink well and responding, sending the note back to Ethan behind Hermione's back. Ethan noticed that Hermione was beginning to look very agitated with the boys passing notes over, in front of, and behind her. After unfolding the parchment carefully in front of him, Ethan took Hermione's hand and gave her an apologetic smile.

Harry's reply read, _So how long are you all planning on staying here?_

Ethan scribbled back a response, _We're staying until Lathenia makes her move; then we protect you and leave as soon as we're sure that all possible threats are gone._ Whispering a promise of this note being the last one, Ethan gave Hermione the folded parchment for her to pass to Harry, and sat back to pay attention.

"… therefore it is not only important that you learn the magical means of protection," Ethan tuned in to hear Carter say, "It is just as important for you to learn the Muggle way of fighting. What if your wand is taken from you?" Carter's gaze seemed to linger on Harry for a moment. "What if your wand is broken?" Now Carter's eyes rested on Ron, who was sitting beside Rochelle on Ethan's other side. "What if you panic and can't remember an appropriate spell?" Finally, Carter looked at Hermione. It seemed as if Professor Carter had read the Harry Potter books as well, from the way he was talking. "This year we shall be practicing Muggle fighting as well as some advanced defensive spells. Some of the spells we shall be covering are Patronus Charms for protection against the Dark Lord's dementors, Shield Charms for protection against Death Eaters, and Stunning Spells for giants and other magical creatures of the like."

Ethan noticed a lot of Gryffindors and a few of the Ravenclaws in the class lean back in their chairs, looking smug. Smiling to himself, Ethan realized that these must be some of the remaining members of "Dumbledore's Army" from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It seemed that Isabel had realized this as well, because she had started bouncing up and down in her seat, looking excitedly at all of the relaxed people in the room. Even Hermione had stopped taking notes when Carter said what spells they would be taught this year. Ethan noticed Matt, who was directly in front of his sister, even looked enthusiastically at the people who were now falling asleep in class; Isabel must have lent him the books after she read them. _I really need to train Matt some more,_ Ethan thought to himself. _I'll ask Harry if we can borrow his invisibility cloak so we can sneak up to the Shrieking Shack to train one of these days…_

Professor Carter looked pointedly at Ethan, who sighed inwardly but obediently closed his eyes to concentrate when Carter started flicking his fake wand. When Ethan opened his eyes again, he had created the illusion of a punching bag having appeared at Carter's command, swaying slowly from a chain hooked to the ceiling. Ethan had brought the real punching bag into the illusion, so that anyone who punched it would actually feel the gigantic mass. It was all a part of the plan; Ethan's part was to create illusions and animate objects for everyone when it came to casting spells, Isabel was here in case anything went wrong and someone needed to be healed immediately, Rochelle's presence was required for her truthseeing abilities, and Matt had come along for observation. Obviously they had needed someone of authority, in case some of the Hogwarts teachers started to doubt the new students; thus Carter had been sent along. Jimmy and Shaun had been sent to the two most popular shops in Hogsmeade so that they could be there to help if Lathenia decided to attack such a populated area. And Arkarian provided a quick escape that appeared normal to any given witch or wizard, especially if they needed to drag a younger student with them—like Ginny, who had been following Harry and Isabel since the sudden appearance of the three new Gryffindors. Ethan needed to get her alone so he could tell her what was going on, so she would stop risking the success of the mission so she could stalk her ex-boyfriend and his phony girlfriend.

Ethan laughed to himself, recalling all of the girls who were suddenly looking at Harry in a new light because of Isabel; their relationship was now considered the ideal relationship for any couple. Last night Lavender had pointed out that, for a couple so close that Isabel had actually changed schools to be with Harry, they never did more than hold hands. Isabel had laughed and, giving Harry an almost loving look, said dreamily, "I know, he's such a romantic… our relationship isn't at all physical, it's more of a sharing of emotions. I thought Harry would have a problem when I told him that was the kind of relationship I wanted to have, but he said that was the type that he wanted too." Isabel had sighed and rested her hand on Harry's, looking deeply into his eyes. Harry had played his part as well, covering Isabel's hand with his remaining one and grinning like an idiot. Ginny had run off angrily when Isabel added lightly, "It's like we're made for each other…"

Ethan looked to his right, noticing Ron and Rochelle's unease with each other. He nearly burst out laughing remembering what had happened when Parvati had asked what their relationship was like, since neither Ron never touched Rochelle and vice versa, and neither one ever seemed at all comfortable in the other's presence. When Parvati asked this, Rochelle and Ron had just looked at each other with helpless expressions on their faces. Then Rochelle had suddenly pounced on Ron, fixing her mouth on his in a very prolonged kiss. Ron had responded as any boy might, kissing Rochelle back eagerly. The kiss lasted for about two minutes before Rochelle pulled away, disgusted, and slapped Ron. "I told you never to think that about my body again!" she had yelled at Ron, who began apologizing confusedly while rubbing his cheek with an expression of pain on his face.

Everyone seemed to accept Ethan and Hermione's relationship as a general relationship; they held hands, looked into each other's eyes, found time to be alone together, always sat next to each other, and had even kissed once, although they had decided not to do it again when Ron had nearly compromised the whole mission by telling Ethan to go get a girl from his own time period. This had caused not only Ethan to blush, but also Rochelle. Many people had taken note of this occurrence, starting the circulation of many rumors that the group pretended to ignore.

"_MR. ROBERTS!_" Ethan tuned back in to the lesson when he heard Carter shouting his name and gesturing to the punching bag. "Will you please show the class what a Muggle fight is like?"

No one in the class seemed ecstatic about this idea, probably having all seen a "Muggle fight" many times in their lives. Nevertheless, Ethan stood and walked to the front of the classroom. As soon as he came within five feet of the punching bag, Carter heaved the heavy bag so that it swung up towards Ethan's face.

Immediately, Ethan swung around, bringing his right leg around in a clockwise direction until the foot collided solidly with the heavy leather punching bag. The bag swung around, coming up from the side. Ethan blocked the bag, bringing his left forearm up to protect his face, and then punched the bag hard with his right fist. The bag swung back, and then came forward again for another "attack." Ethan jumped into a flying front kick, using his left leg to propel himself into the air and then kicking out with his right foot. The blow should have caused the bag to swing back on its chain, but instead the bag simply disappeared.

The whole class stared at the spot where the bag had just been swinging, until Professor Carter finally broke the silence with an uncomfortable explanation: "Very good, Mr. Roberts. Five points to Gryffindor. Well now, you have just seen that this bag has been magicked, thanks to a friend of mine who used to work at Zonko's, to emulate human pain. When it has taken enough of a beating that a normal person would have been knocked out, the bag disappears." Ethan, although Carter had actually _praised_ him for once, felt ashamed; he had lost his concentration, causing the illusion to fade. Ethan mentally kicked himself on his way back to his seat between Hermione and Rochelle.

For the rest of the class period Ethan concentrated on making illusions of punching bags appear and disappear for students to beat up or have beat on them. It was actually a very enlightening experience, seeing how out-of-shape a lot of witches and wizards were. But then again, all they had to do when they wanted something was cast a Summoning Charm and it would float right over. And many of them would be able to Apparate when they left school this year. But Ethan still enjoyed himself as he watched many of his new peers getting whacked with a punching bag, and imagining how they would manage if Lathenia decided to show up here and now.

When the bell rang for the class to end, Harry, Isabel, Ron, and Rochelle caught up with Ethan and Hermione. "I thought our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was a squib," Harry commented. "At least, that's what he told us yesterday, wasn't it?"

Hermione instantly had an answer, along with a scold: "Actually, some witches and wizards are considered squibs if they are able to perform only one type of magic," she explained. "Of course, you would know this if you actually read something other than _Quidditch Through the Ages_ once in a while. Some wizards can only perform charms, and others are only able to brew potions. It all depends on the witch or wizard. Even Muggle 'psychics' are squibs who are only able to use divination."

Ethan looked at the girl pretending to be his girlfriend. "I could kiss you right now," he told her, looking at her admirably.

"It's true!" Hermione defended at the same time that Ron growled, "Please don't!" This caused everyone else to burst into laughter while Ron and Hermione went fairly red, looking anywhere but at each other.

Ethan looked up from laughing and noticed Ginny poking her head out from a corner farther down the corridor. Nudging Isabel and Rochelle to follow him, Ethan bid good-bye to Hermione, Harry, and Ron to go pursue Ginny; it was imperative that she understand what was going on, especially if she was going to continue to be such a nuisance.


	5. He could be a knitchy

Wondering how much longer his stomach would be able to keep breakfast down, Ron watched the Quaffle make its way down the Quidditch pitch, towards the golden goal posts he was protecting. Slytherin Chaser Montague was headed towards Ron, the Quaffle held tightly in his oversized hands.

_Why did Harry put me back on the team?_ Ron thought, trying to watch out for the Slytherin Beater, Crabbe, while keeping his eyes on Montague. _I'm not good at this at all! Half of the saves I've made today have been pure luck!_

Just then, Crabbe sent a bludger hurtling towards Ron's head at the same time that Montague threw the Quaffle at the goal Ron was protecting. Swining his lef out to het more speed, Ron whirled his body completely around the broomstick, resettling himself on the broom just in time to catch the Quaffle.

_See?_ Ron thought as the Gryffindors in the stands cheered his save. _I'm terrible!_

Ron chucked the Quaffle at Ginny, who had been tailing Montague on her Cleansweep Seven. After Ethan, Isabel, and Rochelle had had their little conversation with Ginny last week, Ginny had been more tolerant of the new students and their assuredly temporary relationships. She would now take active participation in Harry's game strategy, even passing the Quaffle to Ethan when she needed to.

Ethan had turned out to be an awesome Quidditch player. He always caught the Quaffle, and the ball seemed to somehow go through one of the three Slytherin goal hoops, even if it wasn't the one Ethan had appeared to aim for. Even the commentator, Luna Lovegood, noticed that something was going on with Ethan.

"I think the new Gryffindor Keeper, Ethan Roberts, could be a knitchy," Luna announced. "He's too perfect at Quidditch. There he goes now, clearly aiming for the left goal post. He throws the Quaffle… the Slytherin Keeper goes to catch the Quaffle… the Quaffle swerves _around_ the Slytherin Keeper… the Quaffle flies through the goal post on the right! If Ethan Roberts is not a knitchy, then I don't know what a knitchy is!"

Hearing this over the magical loudspeaker, Ron laughed aloud. _I guess she doesn't know what a "knitchy" is, then!_ he thought.

Looking into the stands while the Quaffle was on the Slytherin end of the pitch, Ron saw Rochelle, Hermione, and Isabel watching the game. Each one of the girls held a sign over their head: Hermione was waving a sign supporting Ethan, Isabel's sign was in support of Harry, and Rochelle's sign pronounced Ron the best player of them all. All three signs sported moving pictures of their respective Quidditch players, although where they found an action photo of Ethan playing Quidditch, Ron would never know. Ron had enough trouble just wrapping his mind around the idea of there being a book about his and Harry's and Hermione's seven years at Hogwarts.

Ron shivered, remembering just how close he and his two friends came to actually not coming to Hogwarts this year. He and Hermione had accompanied Harry to Godric's Hollow like they had planned at the end of last year, and visited the Potters' graves. Harry had sat for a long time, just looking at the headstones marking where his parents' bodies were buried. Sometime during that three-hour period when all Harry did was look at his parents' graves, Harry had decided to return to Hogwarts to complete his seventh year. When Ron and Hermione had asked what had made him want to go back, Harry had replied that there were two reasons: he didn't think his parents would ever want him to drop out of school, and he thought that it would be easier to find out more about Voldemort among teachers who had lived through his reign of terror once already. Most of the teachers being in the Order of the Phoenix, Harry said he could ask some of the teachers if they would teach him more about Voldemort's weaknesses. Ron and Hermione had agreed, stunned with Harry's reasoning, and gone back to Hogwarts with him.

Ron lunged, punting the Quaffle away from the middle hoop at the last second. He'd gotten too caught up in his memories; he had to keep his mind on the game. Although with Ethan on the team, he really didn't need to; the score was 180-30 to Gryffindor, and this was only the first ten minutes of the game.

Ron saw Harry suddenly fly straight up into the sky. The new Slytherin Seeker—Malfoy having left the school with Snape last year—saw this too, and began following Harry up into the clouds. Suddenly, though, Harry made a sharp turn to the right, his arm outstretched. Ron saw a tiny glint of gold ten feet away from Harry's hand. Instead of flying straight towards the Snitch, Harry had gone up and then to the right, distracting the Slytherin Seeker.

Harry and the Snitch disappeared into a cloud, but there was no doubt that Harry was going to catch the flying golden ball; the Slytherin Seeker was still flying straight up, a slightly confused expression marring his triumphant face. He had thought Harry had pulled away due to lack of oxygen in the thinning air that high up. Harry dove down to the ground, jumping off of his broom to land on his feet at the last second. He waved the golden Snitch triumphantly over his head, and the stands for Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff began to cheer ecstatically.

Ron smiled and began flying towards his best friend. _I am so glad we came back this year!_


	6. Muggles with magic?

"What is your problem, Ron?" Hermione shouted, advancing on Ron until his back was pressed against the portrait hole. "Ethan was just trying to hold my hand! We've been holding hands for the past few weeks! What's up?"

Ron looked around the Gryffindor common room, searching for help; no one else was there. Everyone else was still in the Great Hall, where Ethan and Rochelle were probably concocting a reason why their girlfriend and boyfriend had left breakfast early.

"Well?" Ron looked at the insistent Hermione, at a loss for what to say. He couldn't tell her the truth; even though there was an _understanding_ between them, neither Ron nor Hermione had ever actually admitted that there was anything between them. And to do so _now_, when both of them were "dating" other people, would put a strain on their relationship. If Ron and Hermione looked anything more than friendly, then the alibis for Harry's new bodyguards would be exposed, putting all of the Guards at Hogwarts in danger.

Ron opened his mouth to give Hermione some lame excuse, but was saved at the last second when the portrait swung out from behind him, causing Ron to lose his balance and fall backwards. On his way down, Ron saw four confused faces: Harry's, Ethan's, Isabel's, and—Ron gulped audibly—Rochelle's. Ron landed painfully on his back in the corridor outside Gryffindor tower.

Smirking, Rochelle held out a hand to help Ron back to his feet. "It's okay," she assured him when Ron just eyed her hand warily. "A lot of people are scared of me."

"Yeah?" Ron took Rochelle's hand and stood. "How many of them are ex-boyfriends who hated it when you read their minds?"

For a second, Ron though he saw a flash of remorse in Rochelle's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by anger. "First of all, I don't 'read your mind'," she corrected, using her fingers to make quotation marks while repeating the clichéd phrase. "I hear your thoughts. And if you could just learn to block your thoughts, then I wouldn't be hearing them!"

"_RONALD WEASLEY!_" Hermione burst through the portrait hole. "I'm still waiting for an answer!"

Ron looked from Rochelle to Hermione and back again, confused. "How did I get two women mad at me in less than five minutes?" he asked.

Harry and Ethan were laughing at Ron's situation, but while Harry was laughing silently—albeit clasping both hands over his mouth to be able to do so—Ethan was laughing openly and loudly. Ron gave Ethan a small glare, giving Harry credit for at least attempting to hide his laughter. Ethan, however, seemed to find Ron's glaring at him all the more funny; he began to laugh harder.

"_Well?_" Ron looked at Hermione, still unsure as to what to say to her.

Isabel took this as her cue and stepped in, clearing her throat authoritatively. "Hermione, Ron loves you and has loved you for a while; that's why he has a big problem with you and Ethan 'being together'. Ron, Hermione loves you too but you've been too busy snogging Lavender to notice."

Ethan and Harry stopped laughing. The two boys had completely different reactions to Isabel's words: Ethan was glaring at Isabel as if she'd done something stupid, whereas Harry appeared uncomfortable, looking anywhere but at his two best friends.

Ron and Hermione didn't notice any of this, though, because they were gazing at each other with odd expressions on their faces. Ron really wished Isabel had left things alone; now it felt too uncomfortable being in Hermione's presence, while at the same time it was exactly where he wanted to be. Looking into her eyes, he knew that what Isabel had said was true; Hermione did love him back.

Suddenly, Rochelle leaned in and poked both of Ron's sides at the same time, causing him to jump slightly and say in a high-pitched voice—one that Harry and Hermione hadn't heard since their fourth year at Hogwarts—"_Yipe!_"

Ron turned to glare at Rochelle, torn between angry and grateful for her interruption. Rochelle smirked, reminding Ron that she was "hearing his thoughts".

What Ron really wanted to know about Rochelle was: how could someone so beautiful be so horrible? Sometimes, if the light struck Rochelle's face at just the right angle, Ron would be reminded of the veela—_SMACK!_

Ron looked stunned at Rochelle, wondering what he had done this time to deserve being slapped. He rubbed his right cheek, looking questioningly at Rochelle.

"Don't think that just because I haven't read your books doesn't mean I haven't seen the movies!" Rochelle screeched at him. "The movie for Goblet of Fire… my GOD do you think of anything else but veela?"

Now it was Hermione's turn to laugh. Harry looked confused. "There were never any veela at Hogwarts," Harry ventured slowly, thinking back. "There was Fleur, but she was only part veela. What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the movie!" Rochelle yells. "In the movie, there's a whole close-up on the Beauxbatons girls' butts, and Rupert Grint—the actor who plays Ron—showed attraction to that sort of thing." Rochelle looked at Harry, suddenly analytical. "Daniel Radcliffe is so much more attractive than the real you are..." she muttered, shaking her head sadly. Harry looked down at himself, looking for something that might be wrong with his appearance, but he couldn't find anything wrong; he might not be the strongest teenager in the world, but after six years of fighting Voldemort, competing in the Triwizard Tournament, freeing Sirius, and playing Quidditch, Harry also wasn't the wimpiest kid on the block.

Isabel immediately ran to Harry's defense. "Harry looks fine!" she said hurriedly, obviously having been infatuated with the character for a while. "He's nothing compared to Arkarian, but he's still attractive!"

"Gee, thanks," Harry said, quirking one eyebrow at his "girlfriend".

"Mr. Roberts, Ms. Thallimar, and Ms. Beckett," Professor McGonagall called, bustling down the corridor. "I need a private word with the three of you. Follow me, please." The headmistress turned on her heel, obviously expecting the three students to follow her.

Ethan, Isabel, and Rochelle did not disappoint the apparently angry headmistress. Ethan immediately began thinking up excuses for possible things they could have done against the rules, but he couldn't think of anything; he and the others had made sure to toe the line here at Hogwarts, trying not to draw any more attention than anyone else dating Harry Potter would normally do. They had even told Harry, Ron, and Hermione to act as they would normally—but without brewing Polyjuice Potion or following through with any other illegal activities.

Isabel, Rochelle, and Ethan followed McGonagall all the way up to her offices, where the door opened to reveal Matt standing there and looking guilty for no apparent reason. McGonagall immediately strode over to stand angrily behind her desk, her lips pursed so tightly that they formed a very straight, nearly invisible line.

"I want the truth this time," she said angrily, throwing a letter onto the desk. "Who are you and what are you doing at Hogwarts?"

Ethan stepped forward to read the letter:

_My dear Minerva:  
I regret to inform you that you might have a group of imposters currently educating themselves at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Per your request, I checked all of the attendance records ever kept here at Durmstrang Academy, and there have never been students by the names of Roberts, Ethan; Becket, Isabel; Becket, Matthew; or Thallimar, Rochelle. These students have never attended Durmstrang.   
I advise you to interrogate the students immediately; if they are spying for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or Impiriused to work for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, there could be dire consequences to allowing these children to stay at Hogwarts even for the few weeks that they have been there. I myself would have thrown the children off of the school grounds as soon as they entered, had they given me such an excuse, but such is your mercy and generosity.   
Your ever-faithful friend and colleague,  
Igor Karkaroff_

_We are in so much trouble_, Ethan thought to himself, forgetting to screen his thoughts. Rochelle reiterated that fact by kicking him lightly in the shin and giving him a stern look; Rochelle's presence on this mission was also required to prevent their detection through Legilimency or Truthseeing, since the Muggle act of blocking ones thoughts was extremely similar to the magical Occlumency.

Scrambling his thoughts—Ethan still hadn't mastered the ability to completely block his thoughts—Ethan began to look for possible ways out of this situation. He was usually very good at this, but now McGonagall was confronting the group with hard evidence against them.

"I demand that you tell me who you are, and what you are doing here, _immediately_." McGonagall sat down behind her desk, putting her fingertips together in a gesture she had probably learned from Dumbledore.

Ethan looked into the headmistress's eyes, ready with another reason for their presence—but was suddenly transfixed by the professor's gaze. Her eyes seemed to bore into his, holding his mind captive. Memories seemed to suddenly float through his mind: his sister's death at the hands of Marduke… meeting Arkarian for the first time, when he was going insane at the ripe old age of four… his Initiation into the Guard… his lessons from Arkarian… training Isabel… finally killing Marduke… Arkarian explaining that the world of Harry Potter was real, and that they were going to protect the young wizard…

Suddenly it all stopped, and Ethan gasped, not having realized that he had held his breath the whole time. "Rochelle," Ethan said, his voice cracking. "Truthseeing is _not_ the same as Legilimency."

Rochelle nodded, her own face pale. She had seen all of those memories along with Ethan when Professor McGonagall had opened them for public view. And if she had seen them, then there was a possibility that a Truthseer here for the Order had seen it too, and knew exactly who was here and why. Harry, and every member of the Guard who had come on this mission to protect him, was now in danger. All because an overprotective headmistress had to go displaying Ethan's thoughts for the world to see—well, for any Truthseers to see. Especially since Ethan, who knew more about the Guard than any of the other people standing in that room, had been the one whose memories had been advertised.

Rochelle knew that now the headmistress would know that Rochelle could hear her thoughts; along with all of his memories, McGonagall had also pulled out information on each of the people standing in the room. Rochelle politely withdrew her mind, so that she would not accidentally pick up any stray thoughts unless they were projected at her on purpose.

Isabel stood with fists bunched. How dare this teacher expose them so forcefully, risking everyone's lives? Granted, she hadn't known she was risking lives, but if McGonagall had given them time to explain then she would have known. But no, this teacher had to go do things her own way, without consulting the students. It disgusted Isabel that her first failed mission was ruined because of this stupid little thing.

Matt didn't know what to think about this. This mission was supposed to be observation only. He had been placed into Ravenclaw only because it would have been suspicious if all of them had been put into Gryffindor. Because Matt had no revealed powers yet, he had been put into Ravenclaw to watch from afar, while Ethan, Isabel, and Rochelle hung out with Harry Potter. He had had to watch Ethan playing Quidditch alongside the most popular book character in the Muggle world. He had had to see his little sister flirting with the fictional—no, not fictional—character. He had had to see his ex-girlfriend, who had betrayed his trust and his friends, get close to the character he had only ever dreamed of going to school with. And all this time Matt had been stuck chatting it up with people like Cho Chang—who was very much a prep, it turned out.

Professor McGonagall, like Matt, wasn't sure what to make of this situation. There were _Muggles_ with _magical abilities?_ This went against everything she had ever known! But no, these Muggles apparently had their own supernatural skills, which enabled them to successfully infiltrate Hogwarts. And while it was not difficult to believe that Harry Potter was in danger and in need of protection, it was difficult to comprehend that his malefactor was not the Dark Lord, but a _goddess!_ An evil goddess, evil enough to rival Lord Voldemort himself… that was a scary thought, something that McGonagall did not want to believe at all. But what other explanation was there for the presences of these students?

After a long time when all anyone did was look uncomfortably around the room, McGonagall nodded to the students. "You are here to protect a Hogwarts student; therefore I have no choice but to welcome you temporarily to Hogwarts. However." McGonagall looked sternly around at each of the teenagers before her, but this time none of them was willing to look into her eyes. "As soon as this goddess business is over, you are to leave Hogwarts. You and everyone else who came with you." McGonagall dismissed the students with a small jerk of her head.

Immediately, Ethan, Isabel, Matt, and Rochelle started to leave. At the door, Matt turned to smile at Professor McGonagall. "You're going to need a ready replacement for the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," he warned happily before following his friends down the moving staircase.


	7. Abbas occisor

A month came and went. Gryffindor won the next Quidditch match against Ravenclaw—a big disappointment to Matt, who had apparently gained some pride in his House. Ron and Rochelle got began getting along better; at least, Rochelle didn't slap Ron nearly as much as she had at the beginning of this mission, but Isabel wasn't sure if she should accredit this to Ron's having learned how to screen his thoughts from the Truthseer, or to Rochelle's having tuned down her temper. Either was likely, but since Rochelle was the only Truthseer the group had, it was very unlikely that anyone else would ever discover why Ron and Rochelle were now getting along better.

Ron had even come to tolerate Hermione's "relationship" with Ethan. At least, Hermione and Ethan could now hold hands in his presence. But anything more than that—even a small kiss on the cheek—would set Ron yelling out his frustration with PDA's. And then Rochelle would snog him to get him to shut up, an activity that Ron did not appear to object to in the least.

Smiling, Isabel thought about her wonderful friendship with—of all people—Harry Potter. She knew that any girl would willingly pay any amount of money, or give any one of their limbs, to be in her boots. Isabel enjoyed getting to know Harry better… and of course the fringe benefits of pretending to be his girlfriend weren't too bad, either, although Harry was still uncomfortable with much more than a short kiss.

Even Matt seemed to have found some semblance of a romantic relationship at Hogwarts, although in Isabel's opinion it was more to get back at Rochelle than it was to actually get to know a girl better. Matt certainly didn't act the way he had with Rochelle when he was around Ginny. Of course, Ginny was probably only dating Matt to get back at Harry. Isabel began to think of the possibility of an agreement between her brother and the younger girl while she watched them interact at the Three Broomsticks during the first Hogsmeade trip of the year.

"So what should we do while we're here?" Ginny asked Matt, rubbing the boy's forearm with a finger and casting furtive glances at Harry. "How about we stop by Madame Puddifoot's?"

Matt nearly choked on his butterbeer. "Madame Puddifoot's?" he asked, wiping butterbeer off of his chin off on the back of the sleeve that was not currently being rubbed by an attractive redhead. "But that's—that's—let's not…"

Rochelle, seated next to Isabel and with Matt's arm slung around her shoulders, smirked when she saw Matt give up on his description of the lovers' paradise; she had already been there with Ron, leaving as soon as she had seen the heart-shaped confetti. The place was a lovers' paradise.

Giving Harry another glance, Ginny offered in a slightly frustrated voice, "Then how about we go to the Shrieking Shack? Not many people really go down there…"

Matt looked at Ginny, a disgusted look on his face. "We've only just started dating!" he exclaimed, scooting a bit farther away from Ginny. "How about we do something more fun for a first date?"

"Well what do you think Hogsmeade is?" Ginny exclaimed, her face now revealing all of her frustration at her foiled attempts at showing Harry how "in love" she and Matt were. "It's a town, not the Quidditch World Cup!"

Matt now looked at Ginny as if she was insane. "You call going to a place and being chased into the woods when Death Eaters start levitating Muggles over their heads _fun_?" he asked.

"Quidditch is fun!" Harry, Ginny, and Ron exclaimed together. "The Death Eaters just got in the way!" The three friends stared at each other when they finished their second simultaneous sentence.

Harry turned to Isabel, smiling. "So what do you guys do for fun?" he asked, stroking the back of Isabel's hand with a thumb.

Isabel noted Ginny's look of sadness before answering, pulling her hand out of Harry's to avoid a scene before she did. "We train, and go on missions."

"That's it?" Ron asked, amazed. "You do this every day?"

"Well, not exactly _this_," Ethan replied from his seat next to Hermione, across from Isabel. "We don't usually go on missions like this one… but all of our missions are interesting, to say the least."

"Remember that one time," Isabel said, grinning at Ethan, "when I was only there for observation, but your dad started trying to wake you up? And I had to save the prince?"

Ethan grunted. "I don't recall it being quite so amusing."

Isabel shrugged. "Well, at the time it wasn't because I didn't really know what was going on. But now it's hilarious!"

"You go and say that when I try to wake you when you're training your first Apprentice," Ethan said, an evil grin spreading across his face. "We really need to stop talking about this now, before we give anything about ourselves away."

Harry took a swig of butterbeer, his first since ordering it awkwardly from Shaun; he was so used to ordering from Madame Rosmerta. Harry made a face at the tankard when he was done, and handed it to Ethan. "Does this taste funny to you?"

Ethan took the tankard and drank deeply, trying to compare the taste to the butterbeer in his own mug. Isabel could tell by Ethan's confused face that did taste different.

"Yeah, it does," Ethan confirmed, handing Harry his tankard. "Mine tastes sweeter somehow."

Matt gestured for the tankard, which Harry handed over. After drinking deeply, Matt drank from his own mug again, a look of concentration on his face. After shrugging, Matt returned the tankard to Harry, who swallowed the remaining drop.

"I know what we can do," Isabel said, smiling. "We can introduce Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny to our _parents._"

This got the other Guards at the table excited. Isabel, Ethan, Matt, and Rochelle began urging Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to finish their butterbeers quickly so that they could meet the people pretending to be their parents—or, in Ethan's case, the person who actually was his father.

As soon as the entire group had exited the Three Broomsticks, Isabel asked Harry to put his wand arm into the air. Knowing what was going to happen, Harry half-heartedly put up his wand arm.

Immediately, the Knight Bus came rolling out from nowhere with a loud _BANG!_ It rolled to an uncontrolled, swerved stop. The doors opened to reveal what looked like an eighteen-year-old, blue-haired, violet-eyed man.

"This is my _father_," Isabel said, running up the steps of the triple-decker bus to greet the man. Not really realizing what she was doing, Isabel wrapped her arms around him. When she finally realized that she was embracing someone who was not her "boyfriend"—_this_ someone in particular—Isabel pulled away, blushing furiously. "Arkarian," she finished lamely, tucking some of her blonde hair behind one ear. Isabel looked back at the rest of the group.

Ethan was laughing silently at Isabel's greeting of Arkarian, although _why_ he was laughing Isabel had no clue. She saw nothing funny in it—hadn't Ethan been the one to kiss her in John of Gaunt's bed that one time? Ethan had no right to be laughing at her.

Hermione was looking from Isabel to Arkarian with a small smile growing on her face. Isabel was nearly certain that Hermione, intelligent and observant as she was, was quickly piecing together that Isabel had a _strong_ crush on Arkarian. Isabel felt her cheeks flush even deeper while she tried to catch Hermione's attention with her eyes, to warn her not to say anything that could compromise the mission—or her relationship with Arkarian.

Matt was scowling at Arkarian, probably because Arkarian had actually hugged Isabel back. But whereas Isabel's hug could have given them away, Arkarian's hug had definitely been a part of the father-daughter act; it had been a more familiar hug than a romantic one.

Harry, Ginny, and Ron were greeting Arkarian, shaking hands and looking as if they had a million questions that they were working hard not to ask. Rochelle had clapped Arkarian on the shoulder before going to take a seat behind him.

"Daughter," Arkarian summoned in a slightly aggravated voice, his eyes dancing at the game, "will you please get your friends to settle down so I can drive? And where would you like to go in _Hogsmeade?_"

Isabel snapped her fingers in mock disappointment. "Gosh, Dad, you caught me!" she sighed, seeing Matt's negative reaction to the word "Dad" out of the corner of her eye. "I was trying to run away from Hogwarts, the best school in the entire world, so I could come here and grow up to be a bus driver like you!"

Arkarian chuckled before shutting the door of the bus and telling the group to sit down. "So where in Hogsmeade would you lot like me to chauffeur you to?"

Rochelle leaned forward in her chair. "Could you take us to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" she asked Arkarian in an über-polite voice. "My dad works there."

"So I've heard," Arkarian responds with a grin. The Knight Bus began speeding off down the street.

For the first time in her life, Isabel learned just how horrible a driver Arkarian was. He drove so badly he made whole buildings have to jump out of the way of the careening Knight Bus. People had to Apparate out of the way, and students—after desperately trying a few spells to force the bus into a different direction—had to simply jump out of the way or complete side-along Apparition with the nearest—and not often voluntary—adult. The people in the bus were flung all over the place.

"ARKARIAN!" Ethan bellowed after being shoved out of Rochelle's lap, where the last sharp turn had tossed him. "Can't you drive any better than this?"

"I never thought it was possible," Harry added, pausing when the next turn nearly threw him out the window, "but you are a worse driver than Ernie was!"

Arkarian gave the group an aggravated look. "I was born in the fourteenth century," he reminded them. "At the age of twenty, I moved into the Citadel. _When have I ever had the opportunity to learn how to drive?_"

"Then why are you the driver of the Knight Bus?" Rochelle asked, her face buried in Ethan's chest where it had been shoved when Ron had accidentally landed on top of her.

"Because Knight Bus drivers are traditionally terrible!" Arkarian said. "It would have looked bad if we had sent Shaun or Carter, who have been driving for years, to take this position."

"Yeah, well, it _feels_ terrible to have you in this position," Ron commented after tumbling on top of Hermione.

Just then the bus lurched to a stop, causing the whole group to fall into a giant pile at the front of the bus. Ron got off of Hermione, both of their faces very deep shades of red. Ethan and Rochelle wore similar expressions, but Rochelle's face was quickly hidden by a look of anger. Isabel applauded the girl's ability to act; but, then again, Rochelle would know how to hide her thoughts and emotions, being a Truthseer.

"Bye, Daddy!" Isabel called when Arkarian took off after leaving the group to kiss the ground in joy outside of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

"Hi, Daddy!" Isabel looked up to see Rochelle waving frantically to Jimmy, who was waving back from inside the window of a large, brightly-colored shop.

"Welcome!" Jimmy greeted them all in a salesman's voice. "Can I offer you some free samples of U-No-Poo?" Jimmy held out a hand that was covered with little candies wrapped in neon orange wrappers.

Although the boys each took some—Ethan taking extra, "for memory's sake," he said—none of the girls took any. Instead, Isabel, Hermione, Rochelle, and Ginny traded exasperated looks as they watched the boys help Ethan fill his pockets. Ron even offered to have Harry buy Ethan a huge pile of gags, saying that no person should live without these jokes.

While Jimmy and Rochelle "caught up" (which included Jimmy asking Rochelle how her grades were, and Rochelle yelling angrily at him that he had no right to butt into her life), the rest of the group looked through all of the joke items that Fred and George had invented. From the way Harry and Ron reacted to a lot of them, Fred and George had been busy concocting new toys. Isabel began to long for JK Rowling to start writing the seventh and final book…

Harry stopped short, holding his stomach. Isabel and Hermione stopped, looking at him. Sweat broke out on Harry's forehead, and a pained expression overcame the jubilant one that had lit his face only a moment before.

"Oh, no," Ron said, noticing his lagging friend and trying to make a joke of the situation. "You didn't try those free samples _now_, did you?"

Harry passed out with a thud. Two more thuds told Isabel that other people had passed out, too. Looking over her shoulder, she could see that the other two people were Matt and Ethan.

"Oh crap," Rochelle muttered. Then she looked at Isabel, a calm look on her face. "Heal them!" she said, gesturing for Isabel to heal the three limp boys on the ground.

"In front of everyone?" Isabel asked, looking to see that everyone in the entire school was watching, noticing that Harry Potter had passed out for no apparent reason.

Isabel's question was answered when all three boys suddenly woke up, screaming and clutching their heads in pain.

Rochelle bent down to touch a hand to Ethan's lips. "Poison," she murmured. "_Abbas occisor_, very deadly. It takes a while to start working, but once the symptoms start it only takes a few moments before the brain hemorrhages and—." Rochelle suddenly looked pointedly up at Isabel. "Well? Start healing them!" she urged, taking her hands off of Ethan's lips.

Isabel looked from boy, to boy, to boy. Who should she heal first? Matt was her brother—she had a crush on Ethan—Harry was supposed to be her boyfriend, _and_ he was Harry Potter. Brother—crush—boyfriend—brother—crush—boyfriend—brother—crush—boyfriend—WHO SHOULD SHE HEAL?

"_Isabel!_" Isabel looked down to see Matt screaming her name. "_Make it stop!_"

"_NO!_" Ethan suddenly screamed out through gritted teeth. "_Heal Harry! Heal Harry first!_"

Brother—crush—boyfriend—!

Rochelle looked furiously at the frustrated healer. "ISABEL!" she cried out. "IF YOU DON'T HEAL THEM RIGHT NOW THEY ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!"


	8. You idiot!

_Author's Note: For all of you too lazy to read the Author's Note at the beginning of Chapter One, the reason that there is no mold (A.K.A. "fluff") between Arkarian and Isabel is because this fanfiction, although it may be taking place during Harry's seventh year, is only after the FIRST BOOK of the Guardians of Time trilogy. Which means that Arkarian and Isabel have yet to hook up. Which means Isabel wouldn't go snogging Arkarian the moment he pulled up, like she might have done in The Key. Again: this fanfiction takes place after The Named_, _but before The Dark. It takes place between The Named and The Dark. The reason Rochelle is there is because I have taken a literary liberty and had her finish her debriefing early. _

_I'm sorry if this chapter is so short; I know I haven't updated in a while, and I know this chapter sucks, so I apologize! I just got off for winter break, so I should have more time to update later, but right now in my time zone it is 4:25 so I am just going to post this and hope that all of you don't hate me... there's not many people who read Guardians of Time as it is, so I don't have many readers anyway!_

_And now on to the story..._

* * *

Rochelle wasn't sure if she should punch Isabel or not. The healer looked like she was going to have a heart-attack from all of the stress she was going through. Rochelle knew Isabel was having a hard time deciding—it was written all over the girl's face! And because Isabel was so distracted, Rochelle was picking up each and every one of her thoughts:

_Brother—boyfriend—crush—brother—boyfriend—crush—brother—boyfriend—crush—DUH!_

Isabel suddenly knelt next to a screaming Harry, placing her hands on the boy's head. Rochelle rolled her eyes; Isabel should have figured out earlier who she was going to heal, but no! She had forgotten who this mission was about: Harry Potter. It wasn't about Matt, as much as Isabel might love him as a brother, or about Ethan, as much as Isabel had a crush on him—although there Rochelle could sympathize with the healer.

Rochelle shook her head, trying to clear her mind from all of the stray thoughts the surrounding people were shoving into her head:

_What's going on?_

_What's wrong with Harry, Ethan, and Matt?_

_Oh my god, are they hurt? Should I help?_

_This was bound to happen now that Dumbledore's dead…_

_What, something ELSE is happening to Potter? Merlin, how much more can happen to that kid?_

"Could you all just learn Occlumency or something?" Rochelle shouted, standing up to face everyone with clenched fists and gritted teeth. Then, hearing everyone's new, suspicious thoughts, Rochelle muttered, "Can't you see how much they're in pain? What if all of your thoughts are contributing to their apparent headaches?"

_Silence_.

Rochelle marveled at how easily all of the young witches and wizards had screened their thoughts. _Maybe living at Hogwarts isn't as bad as I thought it was,_ Rochelle thought. _At least here, everyone knows how to silence their thoughts._

Harry sat up, panting for breath. Without hesitating, Isabel immediately crawled over to heal Matt. Rochelle went to help Harry collect himself.

Harry was glaring at Rochelle when she knelt next to him. "I thought you guys were supposed to help protect me," he muttered, noticing all of the eyes on them. "Aren't you supposed to prevent this sort of thing from happening?"

Rochelle glared right back at Harry, matching the intensity of his accusation with that of her anger. "We're here to keep you safe from Lathenia. That wasn't Lathenia."

"Oh, so if I just have a stroke or something then you're just going to stand there and let me die?"

"Of course not!" Rochelle gasped. "What do you call this? Isabel just healed you from _Abbas occisor_, one of the deadliest poisons in the world! Do you call that 'letting it happen'?"

"Well then how do you know it wasn't your goddess?"

Rochelle, still glaring at Harry, replied matter-of-factly, "First of all: I am the only of Lathenia's soldiers to ever specialize in poisons, because of my skill with my hands. Secondly: Shaun was the one who delivered your drink. Shaun would never do anything for Lathenia, no matter what she offered him as a bribe or threatened as blackmail, and Shaun is most definitely not a member of the Order. Thirdly: we were told specifically that Lathenia herself would be coming on this mission, and Lathenia does not work so indirectly as to use poison. She likes to face her victims herself and watch as she kills them slowly… a little like your Dark Lord, if you think about it."

"Voldemort sends his Death Eaters to do his dirty work all the time."

Rochelle pointed at Harry's scar. "Did he send a Death Eater to come after _you?_"

"I thought you hadn't read the books?"

"Just because I didn't read the books doesn't mean I didn't watch the movies. The beginnings of the movies, at least; I kinda fell asleep towards the middles; I had missions all of the nights I tried to watch them, and when you've got a mission you get really tired."

Matt sat up, holding his head in both of his hands but otherwise looking fine. Ethan, however, suddenly stopped screaming and went limp.

"Ethan?" Rochelle whispered, her breath seeming to have been pulled out of her body by an invisible force. "Ethan?" Rochelle crawled over to where Ethan was lying limp on the floor, and put a shaking hand to his neck. "He's got a pulse," she sighed, and then looked up at a frozen Isabel. "_Heal him now!_"

Isabel, pulled from her stunned trance, immediately knelt by Ethan and put her hands on his head to begin healing him. Hermione came to kneel beside Ethan, remembering that she was supposed to be Ethan's girlfriend.

Two spots of wetness appeared on Ethan's cheek: tears. Rochelle lifted a hand to her face and realized that they were _her_ tears! When had she started crying? Why hadn't she noticed it before?

"Come on, Ethan!" Rochelle whispered urgently, not really caring that other people were watching her cry. "Wake up… I know you're alive, you have to be alive… please be alive!"

"You know, for some reason I thought Heaven would have less U-No-Poo and more clouds." Ethan, despite holding his head and squinting in obvious pain, was smiling up at Rochelle.

_SMACK!_

"_You idiot!_" Rochelle screamed before wrapping Ethan in the tightest hug she could give, immediately regretting slapping him. Then, pulling away with an extremely red face, she screamed, "_How could you not realize the butterbeer was poisoned? You idiot! You KNEW it tasted funny, but you didn't do anything! You idiot! You almost died! You idiot! If you weren't alive I'd kill you!_"

"And I'm an idiot?"

"_You idiot!_"

"But I'm a _living_ idiot; that's the part that counts."

_SMACK!_

"_You idiot!_"

"Could you yell in this ear next time? I think this one's gone deaf…"

Rochelle went to slap Ethan again, but was held back by Isabel. "If you slap him again, it'll be your fault if he dies," she warned.

Rochelle ignored this advice and turned back to Ethan, but he was now being hugged tightly by the bushy-haired Hermione. Rochelle nearly shoved her off of Ethan, but then the sensible part of her mind that had gone on vacation seemed to come back.

It was right that Hermione was embracing Ethan. She was supposed to be his girlfriend, after all. Rochelle really had no right hugging and slapping and being angry with him. If anyone, it should be…

_SMACK!_

"What did _I_ do?"

"_You idiot! You let them go ahead and drink the poisoned butterbeer and then went and made a joke about the whole thing!_"

Ron looked very confused. "So I'm not in trouble for having perverted thoughts?"

_SMACK!_

"_You are now!_"

"Well then which is it: the perverted thoughts or 'letting them drink the poisoned butterbeer'?"

_SMACK!_

"_Both!_"

"As much as we enjoy watching little Ronnie-kins get beat up by his girlfriend," a red-headed man in a dragon-skin jacket said amusedly, "we really need to send these boys to Saint Mungo's or something."

"Those were some nice hits though," an identical man commented, kneeling to help Harry to his feet.

Rochelle just stared at the two identical men. "Who _are_ you?"

Two identical smiles flashed, and two voices answered simultaneously, "Fred and George Weasley, owners of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!"

_SMACK! SMACK!_

"_You immature idiots!_"

"Did you hear that, Fred? We got a whole adjective added in!"

"She must really like us, George."

_SMACK! SMACK!_

"_What is going on here?_" Rochelle looked up, this time to see Professor McGonagall glaring down at everyone. Then, not waiting for an answer, Professor McGonagall grabbed each Harry, Matt, and Ethan and Disapparated, taking the three boys with her.

The Weasley twins looked amazed at the language that poured from Rochelle's mouth once McGonagall had Disapparated. "She must _really_ like McGonagall, Fred."


	9. The scariest version

_I know I haven't exactly done the best with Rochelle but I am trying! And YES Brindabot, I am having a writer's block. But just because I am having a writer's block doesn't mean I stop writing. It just means I don't write WELL. So if everyone will excuse how crappy this chapter is (you all might not think it's crappy, but to me it just feels bad and forced and wrong and I don't like it but oh well... oh yeah and sorry about McGonagall I know she's a bit OOC but oh well)_

_As usual, everything in here belongs to either Marianne Curley or JK Rowling. The only things that are mine are what is not theirs'. (That might be incorrect grammar but too bad)_

* * *

Matt felt like he was being squeezed through a funnel, and was nearly sick all over McGonagall's robes. Just before he could follow through with the action, the feeling stopped and he felt fine. Very confused, but otherwise fine.

"Where are we?" he asked the teacher hoarsely.

McGonagall looked down at him with a mixture of contempt and empathy. "Saint Mungo's Hospital," she answered before dragging him—along with Ethan and Harry, Matt saw—into the large building before them.

A few hours and a couple of healer visits later, Matt found himself lying on a cot inside of an ordinary-looking hospital room that he was sharing with Ethan and Harry. McGonagall was glaring at him.

"I want you and your friends out and away from Hogwarts immediately," she commanded. "I don't care where you go or how you get there—_stay away from my students!_"

Matt almost glared right back at McGonagall, but stopped himself in time. He was so tired of people thinking he was the leader! The Prophecy was wrong when it named him as the one destined to lead the Named into battle—he didn't even have any powers! And yet here was Professor McGonagall, clearly taking him for the leader of their mission. Matt pointed at Ethan. "Don't look at me," he grumbled. "I'm not in charge of this whole thing."

McGonagall rounded on Ethan, but before she could say anything he was ready with a quick response: "Professor, you gave us permission to stay until Lathenia attacked," he pointed out, holding a hand to his head with an expression of pain on his face. "The Goddess of Chaos has yet to strike."

"Really?" the overprotective teacher asked sarcastically. "What do you call the events that took place earlier today, Mr. Roberts? The events that nearly lead to your own death, and those of Mr. Becket and Mr. Potter?"

Ethan shook his head, causing his eyes to go out of focus for a moment. "That wasn't Lathenia," he murmured, trying to regain his balance. Matt smiled; even though he had come close to death, now he felt absolutely fine, as if nothing had happened to him. And yet here was Ethan, the golden boy of the Guard, writhing in pain that remained from this afternoon's adventure. Of course, Harry wasn't looking much better—if anything, the Chosen One was looking worse. Harry kept rubbing at his lightning-bolt scar, as if pain seared through the damaged skin.

"Well then who was it?" McGonagall demanded. "Your own father, Mr. Roberts, was the one serving the drinks that contained the poison."

"My father is not a murderer or a traitor!" Ethan yelled, and nearly blacking out from the effort.

"It wasn't his father," Harry muttered, still rubbing his scar. "That one was Voldemort, or at least one of his Death Eaters."

McGonagall's look softened when she looked at the obviously aggrieved seventeen-year-old who was destined to save the world. "How do you know this, Mr. Potter?"

"My scar keeps burning," Harry replied. "That only happens when Voldemort is nearby, or feeling something incredibly strong. The last hasn't happened in a while, though…" Harry seemed to drift off into his own thoughts, verbalizing them for the benefit of everyone else in the room. "I haven't felt it like this, though… it's not the usual rage or happiness. This is—it's—it's almost like—." Harry stumbled for words, finally getting a grasp on what he wanted to say. "Ginny." Well, maybe it wasn't so strong a grasp as Matt had originally thought Harry had had.

"Voldemort doesn't have Ginny," Ethan reassured Harry. "Ginny was in the joke shop with us, remember?"

Harry shook his head furiously, but then had to lean back into his pillows for support when he nearly lost consciousness. "Not like _that_," Harry said in a tone that was almost scolding. Matt could see a blush starting to grow across the wizard's cheeks, turning his usually pale face a bright crimson. "He's feeling what _I_ feel… when Ginny's around."

Matt laughed, leaning forward in his bed to get enough air between chuckles. "Voldemort… is… in… love?" he gasped out. "That's… _hilarious!_"

"No, it's really not." Matt stopped laughing to see what had gotten Ethan all gloomy. When he saw Ethan's face, though, all remaining hints of laughter left Matt's face. "If Voldemort is in love, it means he's finally met someone who can match his cruelty. It means he's met Lathenia."

"Voldy and Lathenia, sittin' in a tree." The three boys and McGonagall looked up suddenly to see Isabel smiling in the doorway, the rest of their newly-formed group behind her. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Isabel directed the chorus of teenage voices. "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage!"

"How did you get here?" Matt asked, recalling how McGonagall had had to perform side-along Apparition in order to get him, Ethan, and Harry to Saint Mungo's.

Rochelle stepped forward. "We went in the fireplace!" she exclaimed. "It's so awesome, you have to try it sometime. You step in and yell where you want to go, and then you feel a bit sick for a moment or two, and then you fall out exactly where you had yelled that you needed to be!"

Ron looked almost scared behind Rochelle's shoulder. "I don't know which is scarier," he explained, "the version that's always slapping me for pervertedness, or this version."

"You've only discovered two?" Ethan asks, shocked. "She's got plenty more hidden away. I'm surprised you haven't found all of them out yet."

"There's _more?_" Ron gasped. "Bloody hell, how many more are there?"

Ethan counted on his fingers. "There's the one where she's angry… the one where she's happy but doesn't want to show it… the one where she thinks no one can see how depressed she is… the one where she thinks she has to prove herself—no, wait, that one's Isabel—the one where she feels guilty, but somehow ends up playing defense in the argument…"

"How long are you guys going to be here again?" Ron asked nervously, watching Rochelle stick her tongue out at Ethan. "How can one person have so many personalities?"

"It comes from listening to the thoughts of whiney people like you all day," Rochelle rounded, instantly angry. But then she laughed, breaking the tension that had begun to build within the room.

Matt knew this act very well. This was the sort of thing Rochelle always did when she was trying to hide how she truly felt, and that emotion was usually relief for someone. Matt had seen Rochelle hide that emotion from him sometimes, but now that look was not his; the constant glances that Rochelle were giving to the infirmed Ethan revealed who had truly worried her while the three boys had lain dying on the ground.

"I'm sorry to break up the reunion," McGonagall cut in, "but we still have yet to discover how poison ended up in the cup Shaun Roberts served to Harry Potter."

"My dad didn't put it in there," Ethan said quickly, leaning back against his pillows, his face pale from so much laughter. "There's no way my dad would ever turn traitor. And we've already told you, Professor: this is wizard's work. No one from our time period had anything to do with the poison."

"Then how did the poison come to be in Harry Potter's cup?"

Ethan gave the witch an amused grin. "I only learned that the magical world was real a few weeks ago," Ethan said to the teacher. "_You_ tell _me_ how poison could have ended up in that cup."

McGonagall's face actually flushed, but Matt could not figure out why. "Shaun Roberts could have been placed under the Imperius Curse," McGonagall began. "Or perhaps one of his assistants put the poison into the cup without Shaun's noticing. It would be very easy to do, in as busy a place as the Three Broomsticks."

"So what do we do?" Isabel asked Ethan. "We can't exactly interview every staff member at the Three Broomsticks, can we? Even if we could, it's not like they would tell us the truth, and we can't make Veritaserum or cast a truth spell or anything… they could even use Occlumency to keep Rochelle out if they wanted to."

Matt had an idea, and spoke out: "We can't interview the Three Broomsticks staff, but we _can_ check out Shaun. We can tell him to open his mind for Rochelle to sort through his memories of when he was preparing our drinks, and when he served them to us. Maybe even a bit before that, as well. That way we can see if someone Imperiused Shaun, and we can keep an eye out for the people who had made the drinks so we can be prepared if there is a 'next time'."

Rochelle, Isabel, and Ethan showed Matt three shocked faces, as if they had thought him incompetent up to this point. Finally, Hermione broke the silence. "What if someone _had_ put Shaun under the Imperius Curse?" she asked. "Couldn't they also have modified his memory?"

"I'll be able to see that," Rochelle said confidently. "Memories that have been toyed with tend to be a bit sharper than natural memories. But if that's the case, then at least we'll know for sure that it's a wizard who's out to get us."

"Me," Harry corrected. "A wizard who's out to get _me_. None of your drinks were poisoned, were they? Ethan and Matt just got poisoned because I asked them to drink it… It's all my fault they almost died."

"Oh, come _on_," Isabel said, rolling her eyes. "You sound almost like Ethan with his stupid hero complex!"

Ethan looked offended. "My 'stupid hero complex' has saved your life more than once," he reminded Isabel in a reproachful manner. "You should treat it with more respect."

Isabel bowed at the foot of Ethan's hospital bed. "I apologize, sire!" she said in an exaggerated tone. "I shall treat the hero complex with more respect in the future!"

"That's more like it." Ethan smiled and rested back on his pillows, looking a bit pale. Nevertheless, he brought his hands up behind his head to look jauntily down the bed at Isabel.

Matt shook his head, still wondering how he and Ethan ever managed to repair their friendship. He leveled his gaze on McGonagall once again and asked, "So when are we getting out of here, Professor?"

McGonagall explained that the healers had gotten all of the poison out of the boys' bodies, and that they were free to go whenever they were ready.

"'Free to go'," Ethan repeated. "That makes it sound like we're here under punishment. Personally, I think this mission has been the most interesting one I've ever gone on!"


	10. Dear Professor McGonagall

Professor McGonagall looked down at the letter on her desk with mixed feelings. She really wished the students would have told her where they were going before they had taken off, so that she could at least know where they were and offer them some words of advice, or perhaps a protective spell or two, before they went on their way. She didn't exactly disapprove of their absence, but she really wished they had thought to leave her more of an explanation than:

_Dear Professor McGonagall—  
__Me, Harry, Ron, Ethan, Isabel, Rochelle, and Matt have left Hogwarts for the next few days to complete our current quest to locate and destroy You-Know-Who's horcruxes, so that Harry can come closer to his ultimate destiny of destroying the most evil wizard known to man. We apologize for leaving school on such short notice, and we ask for you to please excuse our absences. We will send Hedwig to your office every day so that you can send us our homework assignments and—  
I apologize, Professor. Hermione had a lapse of judgment when she asked you for our homework assignments. As you know, we will be off looking for one of You-Know-Who's horcruxes and won't have any time to do homework or even study. So instead of asking for our homework to be sent to us via Hedwig, we would like to ask you to please give us perfect marks for the next few days—  
Please excuse Ron, Professor. He just doesn't want to have homework. Well, neither do I, but Hermione is watching me pen this letter and I know that if I tell the truth then she will bash me over the head with her Transfiguration textbook like she did to Ron. So please send us our homework every morning. Thank you!  
Yours truly,  
Hermione Granger  
Ron Weasley  
Harry Potter  
PS: I'm sorry for infiltrating and then skipping school with Rochelle, Isabel, and Matt, but we really do have to look after Harry. I'm sure you understand. After all—  
Before Ethan goes of on a tangent, I would like to warn you about this one person whose thoughts I picked up in the Three Broomsticks. I'm not entirely sure if the thinker might be a threat, but I just wanted to be sure that you could—  
I'm sorry Rochelle is so paranoid, Professor; it's probably a side-effect of her previous training in the Order of Chaos. As we have explained to you, the Order of Chaos is the bad guys in our world. Therefore—  
Professor, please disregard Matt's distrust of Rochelle. They have a history together and my brother is still somewhat sore, since their relationship ended when he found out that she was just using him to further the Order's goals. I know that does sound a bit… malevolent… but I swear to you that Rochelle has changed. You can ask Ethan to vouch for this fact, since he has always had a bit of a soft spot for her. Anyway, this letter is already longer than it should have been, so I am just going to close this postscript and send this letter to you.  
Your favorite infiltrators,  
Ethan Roberts  
Rochelle Thallimar  
Matt Becket  
Isabel Becket_

Professor McGonagall sat back in her chair in her office, trying to make some sense out of the letter. It was obvious that the seven students had gone to get the horcruxes, but the rest of the letter was so full of "Please excuse us"'s and "Please ignore this person"'s that she couldn't make any more sense out of it. She would just have to trust that the seven of them would be able to take care of themselves on this mission… and how could they not, as two wizards, a witch, and four Guardian bodyguards?

* * *

_Author's Note: I'm sorry I haven't updated in such a long time! Please forgive me! Anywho, this is the next chapter, I know it doesn't cover much of what's going on but it at least tells you where they will all be the next time you see Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ethan, Rochelle, Isabel, and Matt (try saying that five times fast!). And it's slightly funnier than what I was originally going to post. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I hope you can wait just a little longer for the next one... I'm not sure when that will be, exactly... there's a lot going on right now... (nyarg, ok I'm going to stop making excuses now ("nyarg" is just a sound that I made up, by the way... it's not an actual word, or at least not one that I'm aware of))_


End file.
